After Rebecca screams at Nakoma for letting the poor soul in who was bit, she goes down and sits on one of the tables of the food court area they were in. Rebecca puts her head down and pulls on her hair with pure anger and frustration. The other soldiers looked at the dead body of their comrade as they bow their heads in sadness. One soldier pulls a tablecloth off of one the food court tables as he places it over the body covering him up. The blood quickly seeps through the sheets from his neck wound and gunshot wound. They silently prayed for him before going and sitting next to or on the floor near Rebecca. Nakoma continues to stare out the boarded windows of the malls doors as the horde gather in masses from the number of gunshots they were firing. Ellis slowly goes up to Nakoma and places a hand on her shoulder.

"Nakoma... it's alright, there was nothing you could have done."

She continues to stare out the boarded entryway until her face slowly curls into an anger state. She snaps out of her trance and walks hastily towards Rebecca's table and scolding her.

"Why!? Tell me why I couldn't save that poor man! Tell me why I had to shoot him instead of stopping the bleeding! WHY!?"

She raised her head up to look at Nakoma with an aggressive distain on her face.

"Are you really serious right now? Have you learned nothing or don't even know what a zombie is?"

Nakoma tilts her head with anger and confusion on her face. Rebecca face palms as her hand slowly slides off her face and makes a loud disgruntled noise that lasted for a moment.

"Ughhh, of course you haven't heard about zombies. I forgot you're a god damn troglodyte that doesn't know what pop culture even is."

"Don't call me a-"

"I'll call you whatever the hell I want! Rule one of people who look and act like that, if they are ever bit do NOT save them. They are already dead from the bite. Zombies are basically walking corpses. I'm guessing whatever those damn scientist cooked up in this lab here in the city, went south sideways really fucking quickly. Whatever you do, do not get bit ever at all, do you understand?"

"But-"

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

Nakoma clenched her fist in pure frustration but nodded with hesitation. Rebecca exhaled as she leans back in her chair and rubbed her eyes with pure mental exhaustion. The other soldiers checked themselves quickly and each other to see if they were bit at all as well. To their relief, none of them were bit at all. Nakoma walks off and heads towards a small water fountain just a few feet away from the table as it stood in the center of the food court. She looks down in the brown murky water seeing her distorted reflection as a tear broke the waters reflection and rippled across the water. She looks down at her hands as it was covered in the man's blood with a deep bright red color. She nearly choked up in tears as she quickly dipped her hands in the muddy water scrubbing her hands together as hard as she can to remove the blood from her hands.

Ellis looked at her with worry and stood by her side. She slowly lifted her hands out of the water as the brown water was now filled with a dark red color. Her palms now "clean" from any trace of the man on her. Ellis sat on the concrete edge of the fountain as Nakoma still sits on her knees leaning over the fountain.

"Why...? Why is this world so... evil?"

"Evil?"

Ellis said with confused tone in his voice.

"Yes, evil... every time I try to do something good or something right, some unknown force just slaps me across the face and tears me limb to limb. People die so fast and so easily. My friends are out there somewhere enduring god knows what. The entire population of California is at risk of this weird sickness these people have been exposed too. The world apparently ended, and they are the remnants of the aftermath. Everything I have experience coming to California has all been one terror after another. I feel like anything I do is doing nothing at all!"

She clenches her fists and cries out of frustration. Ellis looks down feeling sorry but tries to comfort her with his words from the heart.

"That's not true at all, without your help I would have been dead by that crazy woman Rebecca. If it wasn't for you a lot of people would have died back at the labor camp. But you managed to recruit everyone to fight for your freedom. As far as what I have seen, you're basically a walking good luck charm in my opinion. So don't say nothing is working because as far as what I have seen and experience from, you could very much change the future of Los Angeles and California."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Nakoma looks at Ellis with teary eyes. Ellis smiles back with a big grin on his face. She sniffles as she quickly wipes the tears off her face with her arm, soaking into the white lab coat disguise. She quickly slaps both her cheeks and shakes off the despair hanging over her head.

"Okay, okay...thank you Ellis. That really means a lot to me... I just... want less people to die is all."

"And I get that, truly. Some things are just out of our hands at times. As long as you have people to rely on for support, then it feels like you can take on the whole world."

They both chuckle easing the tension a bit. Rebecca's voice echoed the area as she stood on top of the table to get everyone's attention.

"Alright everyone listen up! Do not split up here, we got to clear this mall and see what we can find and maybe hold up in here for the night until outside dies down a bit. Watch each other's back in here and for the love of god, I say again, do not wander off or split up at all!"

The soldiers all yelled in agreement in unison and readied their weapons. Rebecca hops down and yanks off her lab coat as it got in the way as it was really baggy on her and not fitting properly. Ellis helped up Nakoma and followed the group as Ellis readied his weapon protecting Nakoma. They walked down the eerie walkway of the mall slowly watching all around and stepping very carefully. The only thing they can hear inside the mall was their slow footsteps stepping on debris and glass, and the sound of music playing over the intercom of the mall that surprisingly still works for some unknown reason. The song playing on the intercom was called "Linger" played by the Cranberries. The song sounded uplifting but somehow, the situation they were in, made it more creepy and worse. The mall was converted into a hub for traders and merchants as the walkway was filled with abandon stalls and pitched up tents.

It was a mess; it looked as if everyone was scrambling to escape this place as the trading hub was trampled. Things knocked over or out of place, hundreds of shoeprints imprinted onto the floor with dirt and muck. But no sign of life anywhere. Some of the men's hands were shaking as they scan all around them, waiting for something to jump scare them at any moment. Now, ironically, the malls speakers start playing "What a wonderful world" by Louis Armstrong. The music in the mall is not helping them and making them more on edge. Rebecca was in the front leading them as she aims her pistol waiting for something to happen. They walk down until they finally reached into another large open section of the mall with escalators and stairs leading to the second floor.

Before they could even step foot onto the open area the tile in front of Rebecca explodes into pieces as shards of tile flew up in the air. The soldier behind her grabbed her quickly before she could even react as he brought her behind cover to safety. A shotgun was fired somewhere from the second floor as a rack from the shotgun can be heard as it loaded another shell.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOME! I DON'T NEED JACKSONS MEN ON MY PROPERTY!"

As an unknown voice echoed the entire mall. Rebecca shouted back in anger.

"You dickwad! We're not with Jackson!"

"Could've fooled me! The fuck you call your outfits then, huh?!"

Rebecca growled at the unknow voice, but Nakoma chimed in and did the unthinkable, slowly walking towards the open area.

"I'm coming out with my hands up! What she said was true! We stole these outfits to get into the city! We're not with them! I swear to you on my life and honor!"

There was silence for a few moments before the unknown voice began to speak again.

"Slowly!"

Nakoma slowly walked out into the open view with her hands raised high above the air. Rebecca looked at her as if she was insane. Nakoma was finally out in the open and was still unharmed. She looked up to see the mysterious voice as it was a man in his mid twenties, he had a red jacket with a green shirt and spikey white hair. He was aiming his twelve gauge shotgun directly at her as he saw she was telling the truth. He slowly lowered his aim with a very confused look on his face.

"Wait... for real? You guys are not with that douchebag?"

"Of course not, I fucking hate that guy. We stole these uniforms to get into the city to see what was happening."

Rebecca answered the man as she stepped out as well with her men as all their weapons were holstered away. The man chuckled slowly and turned into full blown hysterical laughter. For some reason this ticked Rebecca just slightly. The man leaned his shotgun against the railing as he grabs a long tapestry flag that was hanging off the balcony. He hurdles over the railing and slides down the tapestry quickly reaching the first floor.

"Well shit my bad. You really had me going there for a second. I really thought you all were part of his little army hahaha. Here, my treat, sorry for the scare."

He goes behind a store counter and reaches for a couple of beer cans and tosses each of the soldiers an ice cold beer. The were perplex but also very ecstatic of drinking some alcohol. He offers to Nakoma and Rebecca but they both declined. The two women sat on a concrete bench that was in a square shape with a fake tree plant in the center of it. Rebecca pulled out a cigarette as she lights it taking a massive inhale before puffing it out. The man sat next to them as he cracked open a cold one for himself and still chuckling to himself.

"Man what a relief, I thought I was the only one alive in this damn city of zombies! Good thing I didn't hit you, that would've been bad hahaha!"

Rebecca just looks at the man with an annoyed and tiresome look but understood he didn't mean ill will on them, only Jackson's men, since she was the same. Nakoma looks at him with worry and confusion on how he is still so cheery being in the center of this undead nightmare.